This seminar introduce to the practice of the social audit with regard to compagnies. On basis of a list of social risks with regard to labour law and social security law, the Authors illustrated how ... [more ▼]

This seminar introduce to the practice of the social audit with regard to compagnies. On basis of a list of social risks with regard to labour law and social security law, the Authors illustrated how these risks could be examined and evaluated in the case of a social audit of the company. [less ▲]

While the terrestrial aurorae are known to be driven primarily by the interaction of the Earth's magnetosphere with the solar wind, auroral emissions on Jupiter and Saturn are thought to be driven ... [more ▼]

While the terrestrial aurorae are known to be driven primarily by the interaction of the Earth's magnetosphere with the solar wind, auroral emissions on Jupiter and Saturn are thought to be driven primarily by internal processes, with the main energy source being the planets' rapid rotation. Limited evidence has suggested there might be some influence of the solar wind on Jupiter's aurorae, and indicated that auroral storms on Saturn can occur at times of solar wind pressure increases. To investigate in detail the dependence of auroral processes on solar wind conditions, a large campaign of observations of these planets has been undertaken using the Hubble Space Telescope, in association with measurements from planetary spacecraft and solar wind conditions both propagated from one AU and measured near each planet. The data indicate a consistent brightening of both the auroral emissions and Saturn Kilometric Radiation (SKR) at Saturn close in time to the arrival of solar wind shocks and pressure increases, consistent with a direct physical relationship between Saturnian auroral processes and solar wind conditions. This correlation has been strengthened by the final campaign observations in Feb. 2008. At Jupiter the situation is less clear, with increases in total auroral power seen near the arrival of solar wind forward shocks, while little increase has been observed near reverse shocks. In addition, auroral dawn storms have been observed when there was little change in solar wind conditions. The data are consistent with some solar wind influence on some Jovian auroral processes, while the auroral activity also varies independently of the solar wind. This extensive data set will serve to constrain theoretical models for the interaction of the solar wind with the magnetospheres of Jupiter and Saturn. [less ▲]

Since the finding of the UV Io footprint in 1996, the successive UV instruments on board the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) allowed us to considerably improve the understanding of the Io-Jupiter electro ... [more ▼]

Since the finding of the UV Io footprint in 1996, the successive UV instruments on board the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) allowed us to considerably improve the understanding of the Io-Jupiter electro-magnetic interaction and its auroral counterpart. It has been shown that the Io footprint is generally formed by one bright spot preceded or followed by secondary spots whose relative positions are linked to the location of Io in the plasma torus. We also know that these spots experience brightness variations from minutes to hours. The Io footprint brightness varies over hours with the longitude of Io in the Jovian magnetic field (System III longitude) but until recently, huge gaps existed in the longitude coverage. Part of these gaps has now been filled during the latest HST imaging campaign and a more complete spot brightness versus Io System III longitude diagram emerges. Additionally, we compare spot brightness between images obtained a few minutes apart but from opposite hemispheres. Based on images gathered from 1997 to 2007 with the STIS and the ACS cameras, we also show that the footprint morphology and the spots brightness, including their relative brightness, can vary significantly from one year to another. Finally, we discuss the brightness variations from hours to years in terms of plasma torus density and position of Io in the plasma torus as well as in Jovian magnetic field. [less ▲]

Cassini's Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS) has completed four years of study of Saturn's atmosphere and auroras. Two long slit spectral channels are used to obtain EUV data from 56.3-118.2 nm and ... [more ▼]

Cassini's Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS) has completed four years of study of Saturn's atmosphere and auroras. Two long slit spectral channels are used to obtain EUV data from 56.3-118.2 nm and FUV data from 111.5-191.3 nm. 64 spatial pixels along each slit are combined with slit motion to construct spectral images of Saturn. Auroral emissions are seen from electron-excited molecular and atomic hydrogen. In 2008 UVIS obtained data with the spacecraft well out of Saturn's ring plane, permitting UVIS to obtain a number of short movies of the rotating auroral structures. In some movies a cusp-like feature is present near noon inside the oval. One movie from 2008 day 201 shows parallel linear features on the day side almost at right angles to the main auroral oval that appear, then lengthen, separate in the middle, and then fade away. The same movie also shows one bright "polar flare" inside the oval. A few of the most recent images were obtained at sufficiently close range that 2 spacecraft slews were needed to completely cover the oval. These images provide almost 100 pixels of information across the oval and clearly show multiple arcs of emission on the main oval and scattered emissions inside the oval. We will discuss these features, their locations, and possible interpretations. [less ▲]

A new Small Explorer mission, the Neutral Ion Coupling Explorer (NICE) mission, was selected for study by NASA to specifically address neutral ion coupling in the Earth's atmosphere. The main goal of NICE ... [more ▼]

A new Small Explorer mission, the Neutral Ion Coupling Explorer (NICE) mission, was selected for study by NASA to specifically address neutral ion coupling in the Earth's atmosphere. The main goal of NICE is to study neutral-ion coupling at low latitudes where the densest plasma in geospace is created and where a number of remarkable interactions between the plasma and neutral gas occur even in the relative absence of high-latitude forcing. NICE will study this region from a ~24 degree inclination 550 km circular orbit, residing entirely on closed magnetic field lines. The relatively fast precession of low-inclination orbit is favorable for frequent sampling of all local times for the determination of tidal structures. It is now widely recognized that the neutral thermosphere has a strong influence on the ionosphere and that Earth's ionosphere at quiet times is actually tidally dominated. The NICE concept is unique in simultaneously providing measurements of the parameters relevant to ion production and motion across the entire altitude range of the low-latitude ionosphere. The science payload consists of 3 remote sensing instruments viewing the atmospheric limb (1) a dual Doppler Fabry-Perot Interferometer (FP), scanning in altitude to measure neutral wind vector and temperature altitude profiles in the E- and F-regions, (2) a Far Ultraviolet (FUV) imager to measure daytime neutral composition and image the nighttime F-layer intensity distributions, and (3) an Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) altitude profiler to retrieve daytime F-layer properties. In addition, an Ion Velocity Meter (IVM) measures the in-situ ion drifts. NICE will take advantage of an elegant choice of orbit and instrument viewing geometries to make coordinated and complementary observations at all local times, with optimal conjunction of measurements occurring near the equator. The observations are accompanied by a suite of advanced numerical models and analysis techniques. [less ▲]

Solar-like oscillations have now been detected for more than ten years and their frequencies measured for a still growing number of stars with various characteristics (e.g. mass, chemical composition ... [more ▼]

Solar-like oscillations have now been detected for more than ten years and their frequencies measured for a still growing number of stars with various characteristics (e.g. mass, chemical composition, evolutionary stage ...). Excitation of such oscillations is attributed to turbu- lent convection and takes place in the uppermost part of the convective envelope. Since the pioneering work of Goldreich & Keely (1977), more sophisticated theoretical models of stochastic excitation were developed, which differ from each other both by the way turbulent convection is modeled and by the assumed sources of excitation. We briefly review here the different underlying approximations and assumptions of those models. A second part shows that computed mode excitation rates crucially depend on the way time-correlations between eddies are described but also on the surface metal abundance of the star. [less ▲]

Main difficulties and uncertainties in stellar physics originate in the modelling of convection, microscopic and macroscopic transport mechanisms and rotation. I consider each of these physical aspects ... [more ▼]

Main difficulties and uncertainties in stellar physics originate in the modelling of convection, microscopic and macroscopic transport mechanisms and rotation. I consider each of these physical aspects, with a particular attention to their possible probe by asteroseismology. Another important question about opacities is considered by Montalban & Miglio (2008). [less ▲]

According to its spectral type B2 Ib/I I (Klare & Neckel 1977; Schmidt & Carruthers 1996), HD163899 is a supergiant star. The star presents p and g-mode pulsations (Saio et al. 2006). In such a post-main sequence (post MS) star, the helium core is radiative with a very large Brunt-Väisälä frequency which produces a strong damping. The presence of excited g-modes is however possible thanks to an intermediate convective zone (ICZ) which prevents some g-modes from entering the radiative damping core (Saio et al. 2006). We have investigated an alternative solution. We show that MS evolutionary tracks could cross the error box of HD 163899 if a sufficiently large amount of overshooting is taken into account. However, in that case, the spectrum of unstable modes is different from the spectrum of a supergiant star since the Brunt-Väisälä frequency is much smaller. [less ▲]

Current observations of Saturn's aurora performed from Earth-orbit with HST and ground based instruments more than complement the in situ measurements obtained by the Cassini spacecraft. These remote ... [more ▼]

Current observations of Saturn's aurora performed from Earth-orbit with HST and ground based instruments more than complement the in situ measurements obtained by the Cassini spacecraft. These remote observations focus on two spectral windows revealing different facets of the same auroral phenomenon. The auroral photons captured in the ultraviolet bandwidth result from direct impact excitation of H and H2 by charged particles accelerated along magnetic field lines, while the thermal infrared emission involves additional steps in order to produce hot H3+ from the auroral energy. Each spectral window presents its own advantages. The high spatial and temporal resolution of the recent UV images obtained with HST make it possible to discriminate auroral sub-structures, such as short lived arcs and spots, and to map them into the magnetosphere where they can be associated with in situ observations. Infrared high resolution spectroscopy and emission-line imaging from ground observatories (IRTF, UKIRT) have more modest spatial resolution; however they recently pinned down emissions barely observed in the UV. Furthermore, they offer a direct measurement of the ion wind velocities in the auroral ionosphere. These ion flow patterns might then be used to untangle the origin of the auroral particles. The complementarity of observations obtained in the UV and IR bandwidths provides a powerful tool to study the auroral mechanisms in the Kronian magnetosphere and the atmospheric response to the auroral input. [less ▲]

This article presents the preliminary results of pollen analyses carried out on a 13.5m long core taken from the shore of the crater lake of Bambili, Cameroon (05°56'11.9N; 10°14' 31.6E; 2273m alt.). This ... [more ▼]

This article presents the preliminary results of pollen analyses carried out on a 13.5m long core taken from the shore of the crater lake of Bambili, Cameroon (05°56'11.9N; 10°14' 31.6E; 2273m alt.). This allows us to reconstruct the history of montane forest ecosystems from Atlantic Central Africa since 17 000 years BP. Well diversified microflora, show several changes. At the base of the pollen sequence, the vegetation is dominated by herbaceous plant populations such as Poaceae, associated with “dry” plant types from Amaranthaceae/ Chenopodiaceae families and tree and shrub plant types from savannas and open forest formations types such as Gnidia, Lannea, Combretaceae, Cussonia… The montane forest expansion started from 14 080cal BP with the appearance of the pioneer taxon Myrica. This taxon is followed by Schefflera, Podocarpus, Olea, Syzygium… which widely expanded in the immediate surroundings of the lake from 12 310 to 4 590 cal BP. After this date, the montane forest was strongly reduced. However a short phase of forest regrowth is recorded around 2000 BP during which Schefflera dominated the forest assemblage. [less ▲]

We use IMAGE-FUV observations of the polar aurora and measurements of the ionospheric convection from the SuperDARN radar network to study several sawtooth events previously reported in the literature. We ... [more ▼]

We use IMAGE-FUV observations of the polar aurora and measurements of the ionospheric convection from the SuperDARN radar network to study several sawtooth events previously reported in the literature. We estimate the amount of open magnetic flux in the Earth magnetosphere during a significant part of these sawtooth intervals as well as the magnetic flux opening and closure rates, that is, the dayside and nightside reconnection rates. We find that during the sawtooth intervals the magnetosphere is highly loaded with open flux as a result of the strongly southward IMF carried by the solar wind during these intervals. The magnetosphere tries to relax to a less loaded configuration through a sequence of substorm expansions. However, these substorms do not necessarily evolve to their end before reintensification of nightside reconnection occurs in response to continued loading of the magnetosphere on the dayside. [less ▲]

Context: The CoRoT space mission routinely provides high-precision photometric measurements of thousands of stars that have been continuously observed for months. Aims: The discovery and characterization ... [more ▼]

Context: The CoRoT space mission routinely provides high-precision photometric measurements of thousands of stars that have been continuously observed for months. Aims: The discovery and characterization of the first very massive transiting planetary companion with a short orbital period is reported. Methods: A series of 34 transits was detected in the CoRoT light curve of an F3V star, observed from May to October 2007 for 152 days. The radius was accurately determined and the mass derived for this new transiting, thanks to the combined analysis of the light curve and complementary ground-based observations: high-precision radial-velocity measurements, on-off photometry, and high signal-to-noise spectroscopic observations. Results: CoRoT-Exo-3b has a radius of 1.01 ± 0.07 R_Jup and transits around its F3-type primary every 4.26 days in a synchronous orbit. Its mass of 21.66 ± 1.0 M_Jup, density of 26.4 ± 5.6 g cm[SUP]-3[/SUP], and surface gravity of logg = 4.72 clearly distinguish it from the regular close-in planet population, making it the most intriguing transiting substellar object discovered so far. Conclusions: With the current data, the nature of CoRoT-Exo-3b is ambiguous, as it could either be a low-mass brown-dwarf or a member of a new class of ``superplanets''. Its discovery may help constrain the evolution of close-in planets and brown-dwarfs better. Finally, CoRoT-Exo-3b confirms the trend that massive transiting giant planets (M >= 4 M_Jup) are found preferentially around more massive stars than the Sun. The CoRoT space mission, launched on December 27th 2006, has been developed and is operating by CNES, with the contribution of Austria, Belgium, Brasil, ESA, Germany and Spain. The first CoRoT data will be available to the public in February 2009 from the CoRoT archive: http://idoc-corot.ias.u-psud.fr/ Table of the COROT photometry is only available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/491/889 [less ▲]

About one year after the end of the first observational run and six months after the first CoRoT data delivery, we comment the data exploitation progress for different types of stars. We consider first ... [more ▼]

About one year after the end of the first observational run and six months after the first CoRoT data delivery, we comment the data exploitation progress for different types of stars. We consider first results to illustrate how these data of unprecedented quality shed a new light on the field of stellar seismology. [less ▲]

In this paper we use the extensive HST data set obtained over two month-long campaigns in 2007 to determine the long term variability of the different components of Jupiter's auroras. We define three ... [more ▼]

In this paper we use the extensive HST data set obtained over two month-long campaigns in 2007 to determine the long term variability of the different components of Jupiter's auroras. We define three regions on the planet's disc, i.e. the main oval, the low latitude, and high latitude auroras, and extract the UV auroral power emitted therefrom. The high latitude region was also further divided into the polar inner and polar outer regions. We discuss the temporal variation of these parameters with reference to the auroral morphology and estimated solar wind conditions projected to Jupiter's orbit from data obtained at Earth orbit. We show that the auroral morphology was very different between the first and second campaigns. In the first campaign the emitted power originated mainly from the main oval and the high latitude regions, which roughly correlated, and exhibited enhancements that are suggested to be associated with compression regions. In the second campaign the high latitude and main oval auroras were generally dimmer overall and less variable, while the low latitude region was populated with bright, patchy emission. We show that a particular auroral morphology is probably associated specifically with compression regions, i.e. over longitudes greater than approx. 180 degrees the main oval is bright and located approx. 1 degree poleward of its previous location, while over smaller longitudes the main oval is not bright or well defined. Instead there is bright emission originating from the contiguous poleward region in the afternoon/dusk sector where bright, sometimes multiple arcs form. It remains unclear, however, whether this state is a response to the initial shock or some other event within the rapidly-varying compression regions. We also show that the dawn storm events, typically associated with intense dawn side main oval auroras also result in the brightening of the high latitude auroras, even to the very highest latitude components, which presumably map to a very different region of the magnetosphere. However, apart from the dawn storms and bright poleward arcs in the afternoon/dusk sector, the power emitted from the poleward auroras is generally uncorrelated with that of the main oval. [less ▲]

Juno, a NASA New Frontiers mission, plans for launch in August 2011, a 5-year cruise (including a flyby of Earth in October 2013 for a gravity boost), and 14 months around Jupiter after arriving in August ... [more ▼]

Juno, a NASA New Frontiers mission, plans for launch in August 2011, a 5-year cruise (including a flyby of Earth in October 2013 for a gravity boost), and 14 months around Jupiter after arriving in August 2016. The spinning (2 RPM), solar-powered Juno will study Jupiter from a highly elliptical orbit, in which the spacecraft (for about 6 hours once every 11 days) dives down over the north pole, skims the outermost atmosphere, and rises back up over the south pole. This orbit allows Juno avoid most of the intense particle radiation surrounding the planet and provides an excellent platform for investigating Jupiter's polar magnetosphere. Part of the exploration of Jupiter's polar magnetosphere will involve remote sensing of the far-ultraviolet H and H2 auroral emissions, plus gases such as methane and acetylene which add their absorption signature to the H2 emissions. This hydrocarbon absorption can be used to estimate the energy of the precipitating electrons; since more energetic electrons penetrate deeper into the atmosphere and the UV emissions they produce will show more absorption. Juno will carry an Ultraviolet Spectrograph (UVS) to make spectral images of Jupiter's aurora. UVS is a UV imaging spectrograph sensitive to both extreme and far ultraviolet emissions in the 70-205~nm range that will characterize the morphology and spectral nature of Jupiter's auroral emissions. Juno UVS consists of two separate sections: a dedicated telescope/spectrograph assembly and a vault electronics box. The telescope/spectrograph assembly contains a telescope which feeds a 0.15-m Rowland circle spectrograph. The telescope has an input aperture 40Ã 40~mm2 and uses an off-axis parabolic primary mirror. A flat scan mirror situated at the front end of the telescope (used to target specific auroral features at up to Â±30Â° perpendicular to the Juno spin plane) directs incoming light to the primary. The light is then focused onto the spectrograph entrance slit, which has a 'dog- bone' shape 6Â° long, in three 2Â° sections of 0.2Â°, 0.05Â°, and 0.2Â° width (projected onto the sky). Light entering the slit is dispersed by a toroidal grating which focuses the UV bandpass onto a curved microchannel plate (MCP) cross delay line (XDL) detector with a solar blind UV- sensitive CsI photocathode, which makes up the instrument's focal plane. Tantalum shielding surrounds the detector assembly to protect the detector and the adjacent detector electronics from high-energy electrons. The main electronics box is located in the Juno vault. Inside are two redundant high-voltage power supplies (HVPS), two redundant low-voltage power supplies, the command and data handling (C&DH) electronics, heater/actuator activation electronics, scan mirror electronics, and event processing electronics. An overview of the UVS design and scientific performance will be presented. [less ▲]

Ultraviolet spectra of Saturn's aurora obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS), the Cassini Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS) and the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) have been compared to synthetic spectra of electron-excited H2 in order to derive various auroral characteristics, such as the energy of the primary precipitating electrons and the H2 temperature at the altitude of the aurora. Two physical processes have been exploited: the absorption by hydrocarbons in the FUV and H2 self-absorption in the EUV. We find energies in the range 10-18 keV, which locates Saturns's aurora between 0.1 and 0.3 μ bar. We also determined that the auroral H2 emission is characterized by a temperature of ~400K, consistent with temperatures measured in the infrared, but much higher than what is expected from equatorial atmospheric models. These new results bring valuable constraints on both polar atmospheric models and theoretical studies of the ionosphere-magnetosphere coupling. [less ▲]

Nanosphere lithography (NSL) is an ideal inexpensive fabrication tool for producing regular, nearly homogenous arrays of nanoparticules with different sizes. There are many different methods for the ... [more ▼]

Nanosphere lithography (NSL) is an ideal inexpensive fabrication tool for producing regular, nearly homogenous arrays of nanoparticules with different sizes. There are many different methods for the fabrication of the latex monolayer based on electrophoresis, the controlled evaporation of a solvent from the suspension containing latex particles, spincoating etc… We focused our work on this last method. The main problem with formation of 2D latex monolayers is that there are always a high number of different structural defects such as: point defects (vacancies), line defects (dislocations) and also many disordered areas. The influence of the different spincoating parameters on the amount of defects was determined by image analysis of SEM micrographies from the different samples. FePt and Co films were deposited onto quartz substrates through the polystryrene monolayers by magnetron sputtering. The nanopsheres were removed by sonication in toluene. Post-deposition annealing treatment was performed under reductive atmosphere for the FePt nanodots in order to transform the as-deposited chemically disoredered face-centered cubic (fcc) structure into the chemically ordered face-centered tetragonal (fct) phase (L10-phase). DRX , SEM and MFM analysis were performed on the different samples. [less ▲]

Actin cytoskeleton controls a vast range of cellular processes such as motility, cytokinesis, differentiation, vesicle transport, phagocytosis, muscle contraction. A growing literature clearly demonstrated that actin cytoskeleton can play a regulating role in several signalling pathways. Cells tightly regulate actin dynamics through numerous specific proteins in order to rapidly and locally respond to various stimuli. An obvious approach to determine the involvement of actin cytoskeleton in signalling pathways is the use of actin-targeting natural compounds. These drugs modulate actin dynamics, accelerating either polymerization or depolymerization, through various mechanisms. This review focus on the use of these actin-targeting drugs as tools to demonstrate the role of actin cytoskeleton in several signal transduction pathways such as those initiated from antigen receptor in T and B cells or those involving mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) or transcription factors NF-kB and SRF (serum response factor). In this last case (SRF), the use of various actin-targeting drugs participated in the elucidation of the molecular mechanism by which actin regulates SRF-mediated transcription. [less ▲]